This tutorial was inspired by the beautiful Deco Ladies created by FlyByNight- D. J. Walker. She has posted two tutorials of her designs that you can go and see by clicking on the links. Please try them out and I assure you, you will have fun doing them. The Deco Lady The Deco Lady II I have named this lady a "bridesmaid" however, with a different flower selection and perhaps a lovely print dress, she could be off to a summer garden party and look completely different. In the extras zip file you will receive two hats. One has been left pure white and the other coloured for this tutorial. If you want to use this hat again in other work, go ahead. I made it using Sinedots II. If you need to change colours, colourize the peach one. The white one, as is, will not colourize. I learned a tip a while ago, and I apologize because I can't remember who it came from, but to colourize anything white, you need to adjust the brightness level down so it appears grey. Then your item will colourize beautifully. I am glad to pass this tip along because I have found it so useful in many of the things I have done. You will also receive the sleeves for the dress, once again done using Sinedots II, the ribbons for the hat, and hair that I created and painted myself (which you can feel free to use anytime). The flowers and hat decorations are the same as the ones in the brize zip. I did not include them again. If you are doing this tutorial before doing the bride, then click here to download the bride zip as well. Your image is yours to do with as you see fit - I place absolutely NO restrictions on what you do with her. Just have fun! This tutorial was completed using PSP7 but can easily be done in PSP6. What You Will Need: Paint Shop Pro: download a trial version here Zip of my selection files: you can download it here Zip of all the extras mentioned above: you can download it here Let Me Say Just Before We Begin This tutorial is "screenshot free". I did each item on a separate layer. I gave several layers (except the face details ) a drop shadow. We will do them all at the end. If you see the shortform "ff" - it stands for floodfill. PLEASE save your work often!! I did it after every layer. It is better to be safe than sorry. (1) Open a new image 440 x 490, 16 mil colours, transparent background. (2) Add a new layer and floodfill it with a darker colour for ease of viewing since you will be using very pale colours in a lot of the selections (3) Create a new layer and load selection "1-neckshoulders.sel" ff - #DCBAA3; apply pillow inner bevel with only the ambience raised to +38. Keep this area selected and create a new layer called "lace". Open the lace psp file which was so kindly loaned for this tutorial by Mahogany. Floodfill with the lace reduced to 50% size. By doing it on a separate layer, you can remove it at a later date without redoing the neck and shoulders if you wish to give her a different outfit. (4) Create a new layer and load selection "6-hat.sel" Open your psp image of the peach hat; copy; return to working screen and then edit - paste - into a selection. Lower the opacity of this layer down to 60. (5) Create a new layer and load selection "2-lefthair.sel" Open your psp image of the left hair; copy; return to working screen and then edit - paste - into a selection. (6) Create a new layer and call it "earring". We will return to this layer later (7) Create a new layer and load selection "3-head.sel" ff -#DCBAA3; apply pillow inner bevel but this time change the ambience to +29 and change the elevation from 20 to 23. (8) Create a new layer and call it "lips" Create a new layer and call it "blush" Create a new layer and call it "shadow1" Create a new layer and call it "shadow2" Create a new layer and call it "eyes" (9) Create a new layer and load selection "4-facedetails.sel" Flood fill with black, Make sure you enlarge and use the paintbucket. Avoid the spray can because it makes it much darker than it should be. (10) Return to the lips layer. using paintbrush size 3, hardness 10 opacity 80, paint colour #C66A6A colour in the lips. Change to #E3B3B3;lower paintbrush opacity to 20 and paint in a highlight on the lower lip. In any of the settings, I have only mentioned the numbers I have changed rather than all the values. (11) Return to the blush layer. Using the same as the lips #C66A6A, paintbrush 10, hardness 50, opacity 80, paint on the blush. I applied a gaussian blur of 9.00 then did it again. I also lowered the layer opacity until I was pleased with the look. To get rid of excess blush, load the head selection again, invert, hit scissors and this will remove what has blurred beyond the face. (12) Return to the shadow1 layer. Using #778C9A, paintbrush size 6, hardness 10, opacity 50 paint on the first colour on the lid just above the eye. Don't go right to the eyebrow. If it goes in the eye area, don't be concerned because it will be covered when you add the white. Lower the layer opacity to what pleases you.I used 70 on both. (13) Return to the shadow2 layer. Using #B8C4CC, paintbrush size down to 4, paint in uppershadow line then lower layer opacity to your liking. (14) Return to the eyes layer. Paint in the white area then change to #5C7180 and paint in the iris. Return to the face details layer and using white add 1 drop of white to each pupil to act as a highlight. (15) Create a new layer and load selection "5-righthair.sel" Open up the psp righthair image; copy; return to working screen and then edit - paste - into a selection. (16) Go back and activate the hat layer. Go to layers - duplicate; then layers - arrange- bring to the top; change the opacity level on this layer from 60 to 75. (17) Create a new layer and load selection "7-hatribbon2.sel" Open up the psp ribbon2 image; copy; return to working screen and then edit - paste - into a selection. (18) Create a new layer and load selection "8-hatribbon1.sel" Open up the psp ribbon1 image; copy; return to working screen and then edit - paste - into a selection. (19) NOW, comes time for you to work on your own for a little while and decorate the hat any way you wouild like to. I used several layers when I did this sample. They are all the images you used for the bride. If you changed your bride, then you might want to change the bridesmaid's hat to match your bride version. (20) Create a new layer and load selection "9-rightsleeve.sel" Open up the psp sleeve image; copy; return to working screen and then edit - paste - into a selection. What I decided here was to add something behind the shoulder area as well. I duplicated this layer and then dragged it all the way to the bottom just above our dark coloured layer then I lowered the layer opacity to 60. (21) Create a new layer at the top again, and load selection "10-leftsleeve.sel" Open up the psp sleeve image; mirror; copy; return to working screen and then edit - paste - into a selection. Again, I duplicated this layer and then dragged it all the way to the bottom just above our dark coloured layer then I lowered the layer opacity to 60. (22) Create a new layer at the top again, and load selection "11-dresstop.sel" ff- #9D724C; effects - texture- blinds - width 6, opacity 25, colour -black, other boxes unchecked (23) Create a new layer and name it "dress pearls" Open up the psp pearl image; copy; return and paste the pearls onto the dress. You can do it similar to the line I did, or you can place them in whatever pattern you would like. Return to the earring layer. Paste one more pearl. I used the deformation tool to enlarge it and then I slid it in place for her earring. (24) Now is the time to go and apply the drop shadows. I did not apply a shadow to every layer because some just didn't look right. At this point I also floodfilled my bottom dark layer to something lighter to make sure I could see the shadow and was pleased with it. These are the settings I have used. If you would like to alter them as we go, please feel free to do so. Remember, this is YOUR image. I will list the numbers only. The first two stand for horizontal and vertical. The third is the opacity level and the fourth is the blur. The colour is black. The layers and settings are: neck and shoulders: 3, 3, 50, 10 head: 0, 0, 50, 10 left hair: -3, -3, 50, 10 front hat: 1, 1, 50, 10 both ribbon layers: 1, 1, 50, 10 top right sleeve: 1, 1, 50, 10 top left sleeve: -1, -1, 50, 10 You can decide whether you want to give any other layers a shadow. My suggestion is to save this image, as is, in PSP format with all the layers intact. This will make it easier if you wish to go back and colourize the layers to make a totally new look for the bridesmaid. To carry on with her in this outfit, shift D to make a duplicate and close your original. Now you can merge all the visible layers. You can make her into a tube now too. Give her a nice backdrop and then you can resize her and then frame her if you wish I have done another small image with her in a different outfit. I removed the lace, gave her a print dress and changed the colours. I hope you have enjoyed creating the bridesmaid to finish out the bridal party. Make changes in patterns, decorations, etc. Enjoy your new creation as much as I did. If you have any problems or need further explanations, please feel free to email me here MAIN TUTORIAL LIST This tutorial was posted at the site of "P. Ann's Place" June 16, 2002 and written by Pat Sherman. All I ask is that you do not claim it as your own.